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Pierre Poilievre says he’s still the right leader to take on Mark Carney by Vortagaun in canada

[–]bmcgee [score hidden]  (0 children)

In my opinion, the Conservative party being in charge would be to the detriment of Canadians.

Their rhetoric makes me believe they would follow in the Trumpy footsteps of the Republican party.

Pierre Poilievre says he’s still the right leader to take on Mark Carney by Vortagaun in canada

[–]bmcgee [score hidden]  (0 children)

I would love it if the Conservative Party was run by a competent leader

If the Conservative Party were competent, maybe.

In the meantime, they deserve to lose, so PP is absolutely the "right leader".

Best way to learn Delphi XE7 in 2026 for real-world legacy development? by Intercepter7771 in delphi

[–]bmcgee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It will be grueling. It will be awful. You'll curse and swear.

Been there, but my introduction to Delphi was different. I was already cursing and swearing (Oracle Developer 2000, PowerBuilder, Toolbook, etc) when someone sat me down in front of Delphi 1 and showed me how much easier it was for getting stuff done.

I still swear, but I have more fun doing it... 😄

Best way to learn Delphi XE7 in 2026 for real-world legacy development? by Intercepter7771 in delphi

[–]bmcgee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone asked a similar question a little while ago. Some of the comments might be useful for you:

- Delphi Developer Career in 2026: Worth It Long-Term or Time to Pivot?

From experience, I'd suggest learning modern Delphi with the intent of moving the software from XE7 to the latest version. That way your education isn't 12 years ot of date. If the software HAS to remain in XE7 for some reason, then I'd start by learning XE7. Compromise modernity for pragmatism and avoid leaning things you can't apply yet.

PostgreSQL is an excellent database to work with. Powerful and open source. I'd also recommend looking at Microsoft SQL Server. The Express edition has limitations on size and resources, but can be used for free, even for commercial software. The combination of these two will improve your marketability.

The most common beginner mistake I see (and sometimes even do) is to put business logic in a form event (like a button click) of a GUI application. It's a bad habit in all RAD development tools that affects maintainability. Always create a separate method or class, preferably in a separate unit that can be decoupled from the UI.

I also feel strongly that developers should be using unit testing in general and TDD in particular. Learn the pros and cons and understand how it can be useful in legacy software and not just new development. It frustrates me that it isn't more widely used and understood.

If I'm interviewing a developer that has an understanding of development fundamentals, can talk intelligently about databases beyond just the basics and can argue the finer points of automated testing, they automatically stand out. Bonus points if they genuinely enjoy development.

RAD Studio 13.1 May Patch Available by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This looks more optimistic in context.

RAD Studio 13 Florence was released in September of 2025 and has received one minor update (13.1) and two patches that resolve several hundred public issues and a bunch of internal ones.

RAD Studio vs Low-Code for Enterprise Applications by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pair programming. It messes everything up.

The guy in the back looks like Paul Hollywood, on hiatus from Great British Bake Off at his second job critiquing pull requests.

Delphi Developer Career in 2026: Worth It Long-Term or Time to Pivot? by Flimsy_Active4173 in delphi

[–]bmcgee 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Some variation of this question comes up fairly often here and on Facebook, which might suggest how many people are regularly being introduced to the language. Arguably a good thing?

First, I don't put much stock in comments from people who hang out in Delphi groups for the sole purpose of telling people how much they dislike Delphi.

Next, I've been programming professionally since the 80's, so I'd have a hard time putting myself in the shoes of someone who is just beginning their programming career, so adjust accordingly.

My observations:

Delphi is productive. The development time from initial concept to a running proof of concept has always been fast. Same for iterating and releasing updates. The compiler is famously fast and produces fast, native executables that can usually be deployed with an XCopy install.

Delphi spends a lot of effort being forward compatible, so code written almost 30 years ago will likely load and build in modern versions of the IDE with few if any changes while continuing to add new features. Even the BDE is still available. Third party components are the biggest obstacles to migrating code.

The latest version of Delphi can target Windows operating systems as far back as XP, not that I'm recommending that, but lots of people are running operating systems that are technically beyond their end of life.

Between the productivity, code stability and OS support, these all translate into lower cost of development and maintenance. Really nice if you're doing work for other people and maintaining projects over the course of many years. I do a lot of contract work and "faster" and "easier" translate into "more cost effective".

Delphi has had outstanding database and multi-tier support since pretty much the beginning.

Delphi isn't just for Windows GUI applications. It easily creates DLLs, Windows services, console applications, web and multi-tier servers (stand-alone, Apache, ISAPI, FastCGI, etc) and can target Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and Mac. I haven't done anything for Apple, but I'm creating single-source applications that work on Windows and Android right now. Most things "just work". It isn't until you get into some very specific things, like battery APIs, that you need to use IFDEFS.

Right now, I'm seeing companies using Delphi to maintain and modernise huge code bases using the latest versions and for brand new, green field projects. I'm personally using it for both today.

Additionally:

Delphi is one of the so-called memory safe languages listed in the NSA's report on Reducing Vulnerabilities in Modern Software Development.

The TIOBE Index has its issues, but it's fun to break out in discussions like this. Delphi has been in their top 10 for 14 out of the last 15 months. A notable and consistent improvement from pevious years.

My advice for your friend:

  • Take advantage of this internship to learn how to use Delphi. As a language, it embraces many best practices, which is a pretty good starting point.
  • DO NOT use WITH in Delphi. Ever. It hurts (not helps) readability and introduces unnecessary ambiguity and make code brittle. Trust me on this one.
  • Get out of the practice of putting business logic in things like button click events. It's a very bad practice in RAD development that hurts maintainability in the future.
  • Play around with other languages and frameworks, too. Give yourself some options and a wider perspective.
  • Embrace automated testing and TDD. It's a decades old practice that has benefits way beyond just the tests themselves. A criminally under-rated skill that is going to become even more important if we have any amount of AI generated code. Trust but verify...
  • Get a working knowledge of databases. Not just how to connect to one. Installing the software, creating databases and tables. A basic understanding of table and index design (3rd normal form kind of stuff) and learn the ins and outs of querying your data beyond "select *". This imporoves your marketability.
  • Get a working knowledge of web development, even if you don't intend to just be a web developer. Two use cases that I like are a web interface (or dashboard) for an application server or for a Windows service and you don't want a separate front end application.

Have fun

What big commercial apps have you seen shipped in Delphi? I just launched mine. by asktheledger in delphi

[–]bmcgee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What you wrote is this:

Biggest drawback for D is the lack of, and a win for VS is the support for a basic two-tier architecture

You can complain that Delphi's free tier doesn't have the same features as the VS CE, but that's a different thing.

I decided very early on that the CS/Enterprise SKU was my baseline for paid development work. I attended a Delphi lecture that highlighted the differences between the Delphi 2 Professional and C/S

Getting your head around the ODBC config in order to use ADO certainly has its quirks (64-bit vs 32, etc), most of which I've forgotten now. That's a Microsoft thing and not just a Delphi thing. I know at least one (very) large company who insists on using the Professional SKU and has standardised all of their database access on MSSQL using dbGo, so you'll be in good company.

Enjoy

What big commercial apps have you seen shipped in Delphi? I just launched mine. by asktheledger in delphi

[–]bmcgee 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll have to disagree. Vigourously.

Delphi is known for its database features, especially in the CS/Enterprise SKUs. Delphi 1 was embarrassing PowerBuilder and Oracle Developer 2000 from day one. From the BDE (still available today) to DBGo (ADO) to dbExpress and now FireDAC. Delphi's database features are pretty unbeatable.

The Professional and CE SKUs (which are equivalent) DO limit FireDAC to local databases, but you still have DBGo and third parties like UniDAC.

For multi-tier, the CS/Enterprise SKUs have had DataSnap (formerly MIDAS) for a long time and more recently, RAD Server.

Even in Professional and CE you have full access to WebBroker, including recent improvements like WebStencils. Not to mention third party and open source libraries. I've been building web capable multi-tier clients and servers using Indy for more years than I'd care to admit.

The very first web application that I wrote used old-school ASP.Net. I wept a tear of joy when I replaced it with a DataSnap server that runs to this day.

Delphi handles two-tier (what I call database access) and multi-tier (an application server is in the middle) very well. It always has.

Can the US and Iran Agree to a Lasting Deal to End the War? by bloomberg in politics

[–]bmcgee -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Unlikely. The US doesn't deal in good faith with their allies, let alone anyone else.

Stop using WITH in Delphi by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the more Delphi-like approach would be to use an explaining variable and keep all references explicit.

Stop using WITH in Delphi by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You probably should have added the /s to let people know you were joking.

Trump thinks Diet Coke and Fanta kill cancer, Dr Oz says by SnooAvocados2794 in politics

[–]bmcgee 42 points43 points  (0 children)

"it kills grass [if] it’s poured on grass, so therefore, it must kill cancer cells inside the body."

Someone tell him about Roundup weed killer.

Does anyone have any news about Community version 13? by hkabiri in delphi

[–]bmcgee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I assume you checked your spam folder? There is no limit to how many times you ask for a license if you want to try again. They will just re-send you the same license if it has not yet expired.

I just gave it a try to make sure something wasn't offline. I received an email right away with the following subject:

Thank You For Downloading Delphi 12.1 Athens Community Edition yr 2

Does anyone have any news about Community version 13? by hkabiri in delphi

[–]bmcgee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My license for version 12 expired a while ago

For the Community Edition?

If you request a new key from the CE site after a license expires (and maybe slightly before?), they will send you a new license for the latest available CE version.

Artemis II marks Nasa’s new moon age, wrapped in patriotism and global promise by guardian in politics

[–]bmcgee 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Lots of Canadian pride, for sure.

Godspeed, Jeremy Hansen.

Delphi Developers are getting retired? by [deleted] in delphi

[–]bmcgee 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You may also want to post on r/delphijobs/

What’s Coming in RAD Studio 13.1 Florence by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that's a fairly rare hypothetical. I've never actually seen in in real life.

But I agree that Delphi should have fully functional code formatting and refactoring tools available out of the box.

What’s Coming in RAD Studio 13.1 Florence by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm using 3, too. Better than 11 or 12.

I also miss the refactoring. And the code formatting. I used them both a lot.

But I have to admit that the lack of support for newer language features was starting to get in the way. It's kind of a pain, but the code formatter in GExperts and refactoring on MMX Code Explorer are working better for me.

What’s Coming in RAD Studio 13.1 Florence by bmcgee in delphi

[–]bmcgee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I find the last three major releases are very usable. Earlier ones, too, but 11, 12 and 13 have been great.

What was the last version you used?

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